


Murder Is 24 Hours

by Susumu



Category: Trivia Murder Party (Video Game)
Genre: Dark Comedy, Gen, Murder, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, obviously but still, someone loses a finger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:46:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28594944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Susumu/pseuds/Susumu
Summary: A group of travelers stumbles across a seemingly abandoned hotel late one night, and end up getting far more than they asked for. Who will live, who will die, and who will escape in the end?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. Checking In

A car sped down a nameless, rain-soaked road, its passengers just returning to their homes from a rather long road trip. There were no less than nine of them, but somehow the car was able to hold them all. Some were asleep at the moment, others were staring absentmindedly out the window at the rain pouring down. A dark-haired young man was in the front seat sleeping with his head on the dashboard. The only one who was focusing on what they were doing at the time was the driver- A man with brown, rather messy-looking hair, trying his best not to pass out while driving.

The brown-haired man took a look at the dashboard clock: 12:32 AM. Damn, how long had he been driving now? The group had left at 8 AM and hadn't made too many stops on the way. Being exhausted made it hard enough to drive, but he could barely see anything through the rain. He couldn't keep going like this. But where was he supposed to stop? There weren't any buildings or landmarks nearby- So he thought. Just as he was considering just pulling over and sleeping on the side of the road, he caught sight of some sort of light not too far in the distance. Windows? It was a building! It didn't look like someone's home either. Maybe this would be a place they could stay for the night!

The car pulled up to the building, and the man stopped to look at the place before getting out. He felt a bit hopeful seeing that it looked like some sort of hotel. Maybe that meant there would be enough beds for everyone. Well, if he could get them all out of the car at this point. He gave the man next to him a gentle shake, in the hopes of waking him up. "Junpei!" he whispered. "Come on, Junpei, get up!"

Junpei didn't respond for several seconds, until the other man shook him a bit harder, upon which his head shot up from the dashboard. "Guh!" he looked around for a second, unsure of what was going on, until he saw the other man next to him. "Ah, Yardi," he finally said, still sounding half-asleep. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"Well, I found us a place to stay for the night," Yardi answered. "We're not gonna have to sleep in the car. Maybe. I don't THINK this is someone's house, anyway. I'm not going up there alone to find out. Help me wake everyone up and let's go."

The two got out of the car, making sure to close the door to keep the seats from getting wet. As Yardi opened the back door, a non-human looking boy, with brown hair and long drooping ears, almost tumbled out of the seat, causing him to wake up with a shout. "Gah!" Thankfully, Yardi was able to catch him before he landed on the pavement. He must have been leaning on the car door when he fell asleep. It took him a moment to get to his feet, but he spoke as soon as he did. "...Yardi! Where are we? What's going on?!" He was ready to fight in case something bad was happening.

"Raya, shhh!" Yardi shushed him. "It's like past midnight, keep it down! I think I found a place we can sleep for tonight. But... I dunno, something seems weird about this place. Staying in a group might be a good idea. I think it'd be better if we all went up there. Just stay here and wait until I wake everyone up, okay?"

Raya climbed out of the car and stretched, before stepping off to the side and letting Yardi deal with the rest of the passengers. "Alright, alright," he said with a yawn. "You're not gonna leave me behind if something happens, right?"

Yardi rolled his eyes as he continued to help the others out of the car. It took several minutes, but soon the group was out, still half asleep and getting very soaked from the rain pouring onto them. A pair of red haired twins were mumbling to each other, unsure of what was happening. "Yardi?" One of them spoke up. "What'd you wake us all up for?"

"Sorry about that," Yardi answered, motioning for the group to follow him up to the door. "Look, I'm exhausted too, alright? I couldn't keep driving like this, and this was the only place we could stop for miles."

"As long as there's beds, I don't care," Raya said.

"That's a pretty dangerous attitude to have," A girl who looked similar to Junpei spoke. "Don't a lot of people get murdered in places like this? They do in all the movies, anyway."

"Would you knock it off, Priff?" Yardi snapped. "You're not helping things any. No one is getting murdered tonight. Now let's get out of the rain, I'm freezing."

Led by Yardi, the group made their way to the door of the building. He pushed the door open and took a look inside, blinking to help his eyes adjust to the light. Well, what light was there, anyway. The interior of the place looked a bit nicer than the outside, but man, whoever lived here could stand to dust a bit. Yardi could see some sort of desk and an elevator in the back of the room. They'd just stumbled upon a hotel!

"What's a place like this doing in the middle of nowhere?" A green-haired girl with glasses asked.

"Does that really matter?" Yardi asked. "It was just good luck for us I guess."

The group made their way up to the desk, and Yardi took note of a small silver bell sitting on it. It looked much cleaner than anything else in the room, somehow. Would anyone even come by if he rang it? He decided to take his chances and do so. Almost instantly, a door behind the desk opened, and some sort of figure stepped out. It looked like... A person? A man, to be exact? Whoever this was, the guy sure needed a haircut. Yardi couldn't quite make out his face, but he seemed to be wearing a long coat, with his hands shoved into the pockets. He stalked up to the desk without a word, and waited for Yardi to speak. Yardi felt like the guy's eyes were drilling holes into him.

"Uh, hi," Yardi said, trying to hide how nervous he was. "Um, could we get a couple of rooms for the night? There's kind of a lot of us here, I hope that won't be a problem..."

The man looked over the group a few times, before he finally spoke himself. "...Come with me." Was this guy even a human? His voice sounded... Weirdly distorted for some reason. And didn't he want any payment or ID or something? He hadn't even given them room keys. He began to make his way toward the elevator, and the rest of the group followed. Once they had all piled into the elevator, the man pressed a few buttons on a panel next to the door. The door closed, and the elevator began to shake as it ascended. The group sat there in uncomfortable silence, though Yardi couldn't help but notice one thing about the elevator: The walls and floor were covered in dark, faded stains. That was weird. How long had it been since this place was cleaned?

After what felt like five or maybe six eternities, the elevator finally stopped, and opened into a long hallway. The man was the first to step out, and the rest of the group followed him down the hall to a set of doors. The man stopped and Raya nearly bumped into him before realizing what was going on. The man turned back to Yardi and spoke once again. "The rooms," he said, suddenly sounding much more... Joyful than before? "Sleep well."

"Uh, thanks," Yardi replied. "We'll give you a shout if we-" The man had disappeared before he could finish his words, though. "Ugh... What was with that guy anyway?"

"We must be the first guests to come here in a while," a pink-haired girl remarked. "Maybe he's relieved to finally have some customers."

"I'd believe that," the red-haired guy answered. "When was this place built, the 1920s?" That could have explained all the dust and dirt and burnt-out lightbulbs they'd seen.

Yardi then took the red-haired woman's hand. "Well, I want to stay with Susumu," he said. "You guys can sort out the rest of the rooms if you want to."

Raya put his hand on the shoulder of another guy about his age, who had dark hair and the most piercing eyes one had ever seen. "Hey, Neal! Let's be roommates!" He declared, dashing into the room before Neal could catch him. Priff and Junpei decided to take a room together. The pink-haired girl offered to stay with the red-haired guy, since he didn't want to be alone, and the green-haired girl took the last room for himself.

Yardi and Susumu took a look around the room as they stepped inside. Yardi tried to lock the door, but it didn't seem to work. Weird. He'd have to tell that man about it tomorrow. Susumu flopped down on one of the beds in the room, and Yardi joined her before long. "Well... It smells a little musty in here, but it's a bed at least," he stated.

Susumu ran her hand along the mattress. "Yardi?" she asked. "Doesn't this place seem a bit odd to you? Like... It's so dirty, half the lights don't work, and why is a hotel still taking check-ins at midnight?"

Yardi groaned. "Not you too, Susumu. Are you still worried about what Priff said earlier?"

"Well, it's not just that," Susumu answered. "That guy who brought us here... Didn't he seem weird?"

Yardi thought about it for a second. "I'm sure Konade was right, though," he finally said. "This place is so remote it probably doesn't get many visitors. Probably why it's so run-down too. ...Susumu, I'm tired, and I'm sure you are too. Let's stop thinking so much and go to sleep."

No response. "Susu-" Yardi couldn't believe what he was seeing. She had fallen asleep while he was talking to her! Well, whatever. If she was calm enough to sleep, he could too. He curled himself under the covers and just closed his eyes. They'd be leaving this place in the morning anyway. No more thoughts. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep after, too.

Until suddenly, he was woken up by a strange noise. A knock at the door. And then... A phone ringing?


	2. Pride Before A Fall

Yardi kept his eyes shut tightly. What was someone doing calling at this hour? And WHY? Whatever, he didn't need this. He tried his best to ignore it... Until the knock at the door grew louder, and he felt something shuffling in the bed next to him. Great. They'd woken up Susumu too.

"Yardi?" she mumbled, rolling over to face him. "What's going on?"

"Go back to sleep," Yardi answered. "I'll take care of this." As he rolled over to answer the phone, he caught sight of the clock on the bedside table. 2:45 AM?! There had to have been some kind of emergency going on for someone to be calling at this hour. He picked up the phone and spoke. "What is it?"

There was no answer for a few seconds, before the voice on the other end spoke. "Both of you, come outside. And make it quick. You wouldn't want to keep your friends waiting." The voice... It sounded like the man from before? Yet somehow even more distorted?

Yardi slammed the phone down with a groan, and sat up in the bed. "Whoever it was, they wanted both of us out there," he explained to Susumu. "Just go back to sleep. I'll go see what it is."

"I don't think I could go back to sleep now," Susumu replied. "Especially if I'm worried about you. Let's go see what's going on out there."

Well, if Susumu couldn't get back to sleep, there was no point in her trying to force it, was there? And, considering what that man from before was like, he really didn't want to know what would happen if either of them refused. The two climbed out of bed and made their way to the door. Once they were out of the room, they saw the rest of their friends outside their doors too, looking just as confused. Susumu spoke to the guy with the red hair. "Sachio? What's going on?"

Sachio stared at her blankly for a few seconds before answering. "...Konade and I got this weird phone call," he said. "Someone telling us to come out here and wait."

Konade was looking around in the meantime. "Did all of us get the same call?"

"It looks like it," The green haired girl spoke up. "The voice on the phone... It sounded like the man who brought us to our rooms."

"I had a feeling something was up with this place!" Susumu declared. "I don't even mind sleeping in the car, let's just get out of here before things get worse!"

And that was when the man's voice came down the hall. "None of you are going anywhere." His voice echoed menacingly as he stepped through the hallway and toward the group. "You thought this was just an ordinary creepy hotel, but it's actually a super-haunted creepy murder hotel!"

Yardi shook his head. "Yeah. Uh-huh. Of course it is," he said, not sounding particularly impressed. "What is this, some kind of bad horror movie?"

"Yes, it is!" The man answered. "But it's the fun kind of bad horror movie! I mean, yeah, I'm gonna kill you all, but we're gonna have a great time too!"

"I- Excuse me?" Konade asked, clearly confused by this.

The man continued. "If you wanna get out of here alive, you're going to have to play by the rules of my game. A game of trivia, that is!" He paused for a moment, expecting a reaction from the group, but all they did was stare at each other awkwardly. Was this guy for real? "Uh... Trust me, it's going to be really scary! Some of you are definitely going to die and stuff!"

"Uh, I don't think so," Yardi spoke up again. "We're very sorry that we bothered you, but now we've got to-"

He cut himself off, however, when he saw how the man was looking at him- And that he was now holding a knife tightly in his hand. "Oh, well, excuse me. Did I make it sound like you had a choice? If I catch any of you trying to run for it, I'll just kill you in front of all your friends. And if you think you can outrun me, you can't outrun a fall to your death in an empty elevator shaft."

Yardi stepped back a bit. What was he supposed to say in response to that? The man put the knife away... Somewhere into his coat. "That's what I thought. I suggest we not waste any more time. It's your lives that depend on it, after all."

Junpei looked around. "So, uh... Is there a room that we go to to do this or..."

"No, no, don't go in there yet!" The man stopped him, and began shuffling around inside his coat pockets. "I've got your first question right here, give me a second." After several moments, he produced a smalll card from his pocket. "First question! An adult human has seven bones in their neck. How many does a giraffe have?"

The group stood there looking at each other. Susumu turned to the rest of the group. "How are we supposed to know that?" she asked. "I didn't even know how many bones I had in my neck!"

"Giraffes' necks are a lot longer than a human's, aren't they?" Raya asked. "That means they've gotta have a lot more bones than humans do!"

Junpei then spoke up. "Not necessarily. They could just have... Uh, really long bones?"

"That doesn't sound right to me," Neal replied. "What kind of animal has bones that long?"

That was when the man spoke to the group again. "Did I mention that you're being timed? If one of you doesn't answer soon, all of you will face the consequences."

Alright, so they weren't going to have time to talk things out, at least not for very long. As the green-haired girl was about to say something, Raya turned around and spoke up. "The answer's gotta be 12!" he responded. "A longer neck means a giraffe has more bones!"

"Raya, are you sure about this?" Konade asked. "That guy did mention consequences..."

"That has to be right!" Raya continued. "I'm saying 12!"

The man shook his head, pretending to be disappointed. "You couldn't have possibly been more wrong," he answered. "The answer I was looking for was 7. Sorry, but wrong answers must be punished."

"What's going to happen to us now?" The green-haired girl asked.

The man pointed at Raya. "Since you were the one to give that answer, you're coming with me." The man grabbed Raya by his wrist and began to carry him away.

Raya, of course, wasn't having any of this, and tried to get away. "H-hey, wait! That isn't fair! I want another chance!"

The man ignored Raya and spoke to the rest of the group. "The rest of you better stay put. Don't think this means I'm done with you just yet." With that, he dragged Raya into one of the empty rooms.

The room Raya was in was pretty dark, with only a single lightbulb lighting up a table. There was something sitting on the table, but it was covered by a cloth. Raya didn't really want to know what it was. He thought he had been shoved into this room alone, until the man stepped out of the shadows. "So, you're pushing for a second chance," he said. "It's not going to be so easy. First, you've got to survive... This!"

Raya instinctively covered his eyes as the man pulled the cloth off the table. After several seconds of silence, he put his hands down. Sitting on the table was some sort of wooden box, and a coin sitting next to it. The box was open at the top, and had several slots at the bottom for something to fall into. A few of the slots were marked with skulls. It reminded Raya of Plinko, but just legally distinct enough to barely avoid a lawsuit. "What's this?" Raya asked, his confusion very apparent.

"We're going to play the Pegs game!" The man said, his voice suddenly filled with the kind of excitement you'd normally hear from guests at a theme park. "I saw something like this on TV and I thought it would be fun to bring it into my murder games. This board was a lot harder to make than you'd think, believe me." He paused for a minute as Raya stood there in silence. "Uh- Right. Drop that coin down the board and see where it falls. But watch out for the Death Zones! ...Uh, those are the skulls. ...Woo, Death Zones!"

Raya rolled his eyes. How hard could this be? He picked up the coin and dropped it down the board, not really thinking about where to place it. He watched the coin bounce down the board for several seconds. It wasn't going near any of the skulls at all. He'd be in the clear!

...Until the coin bounced a bit too far to the left and into one of the Death Zones.

The man sighed and produced the knife from his coat again, before approaching Raya rather quickly. "Well, there's a reason I call them Death Zones."

The rest of the group stood outside the door, waiting for some sort of response from the other side. They all quickly backed away when the doorknob began to turn, and the man stepped out. There was no sign of Raya anywhere. "Alright, well, if none of you thought I was serious about killing you before, you should now." He stepped away from the door, leaving the rest of the group just staring.

"Did... He really just kill Raya?" The green-haired girl asked, her voice shaking. 

Yardi put his hand on her shoulder. "Claire..." He saw that Susumu and Konade were about to cry too. "Augh, we shouldn't have let this happen, damn it!"

"We can't keep going along with this," Neal shook his head. "We've got to find a way to get out of here!"

"What are we going to do though?" Konade asked. "That man will kill us if we try to run!"

"...I've got an idea," Sachio responded. "Come on, just follow me."

The group followed the man down the hallway. "There you are!" he scolded them. "I almost thought you were trying to escape! And I'm in no shape to be chasing you down, believe me. Not after I got into a knife fight with that last guy." He pulled another card from his coat. "You next question is... Where is the oldest university in Europe?"

Sachio motioned for the rest of the group to be quiet. "Let's just not give an answer," he whispered. "If we refuse to play along, maybe he'll let us go?"

The man waited for several more seconds. "I need an answer now," he said, sounding rather impatient.

"We're not giving you one," Sachio answered. "If you won't let us go, then we won't play along."

This seemed to be working fine, until the man grabbed Sachio too. "Didn't I tell you? There's a punishment for not answering too. And all of you are getting it! Come with me." He then dragged Sachio into another room, trying to keep him from struggling the whole way. Well, what else could they do? They had no choice but to go with him.

By the time the group had filed into the room, the man was standing next to some sort of a box. There were shuffling noises coming from inside. Was Sachio in there? "We're going to try one of my favorite magic tricks!" he explained. "I've shut your little friend here in this box. It's up to you whether he lives or dies." The man then handed out three swords- one to Konade, one to Susumu, and one to Junpei. "This one's real easy. Just stab a sword through the box and see what happens!"

Junpei already had an idea. If he went in from the top, there was less of a chance he'd hit Sachio! Susumu went to the back, and Konade went to one of the sides. "Sachio, I'm so sorry about this!" Susumu called out. She didn't know if he could actually hear her, but it helped her feel better.

"Count of three, everyone!" The man declared. "One... Three!" Susumu closed her eyes tightly as the three stabbed the swords into the box. They shot open, however, and all the color drained from her face when she heard a scream from inside the box, then the shuffling noises stopped.

"Sa- Sachio...?" Susumu squeaked, her voice barely audible. The sound of Susumu's voice sounding so crushed somehow made Konade feel sick. Was that... Her fault? Did Susumu feel like SHE had caused this? Junpei stood over the two girls in silence. He was trying to remain calm for their sake, but the look on his face and the way he was shaking proved that he was no less horrified than they were. He'd thought it was the perfect angle. Was HE the one who killed Sachio?

The man had stepped back to watch this unfold, and was now clapping at the sight of the group. "Yeah! Do it again!" he yelled out. He stopped clapping, however, when Yardi and Neal stopped to glare at him. Priff had begun to comfort Junpei, and Claire, Konade, and Susumu were just sobbing into each other's shoulders. "Oh, come on, it's not like any of you are going to live that much longer anyway." Now Priff and Konade had joined in on the glaring. "Ah, whatever, you killjoys. I've still got the rest of you trapped here. Now get moving."

In such a short amount of time, nine had become seven, and it looked like there was no other choice for the rest of them. They would have to keep playing along for now. They couldn't afford not to if they wanted to escape alive.


	3. A Personal Attack

And so the "game" continued on. Susumu walked down the hall in silence, though she was now clinging rather tightly to Yardi. Not that any of them felt much like talking anyway. Well, all except one of them. While most of the group was feeling horrified and tearful at their situation, Neal was just angry. This guy had just killed two of his friends! He couldn't let him get away with this! He was quiet this whole time because he was trying to think of a plan to stop him, but now he finally had some sort of idea. "Guys!" he whispered to the group. "Guys, I just thought of something!"

"We can't just run, Neal," Yardi sighed. "That guy wasn't joking when he said he'd kill us."

"No, no, I had a better idea!" Neal continued. "There's seven of us and only one of him, right? So what's he gonna do if we jump him?"

"I don't know if that's the best idea," Konade remarked. "Did you see how easily he was able to drag Raya and Sachio away?"

Neal shook his head. "Let's just try it, you guys. There's no way he could be stronger than all of us together! Just wait. Next question we get right, we take the guy down ourselves!"

Yardi shook his head. "For all our sakes, I hope this works," he said.

A few moments later, the man turned around to face the group. "Are you ready for the next question?" he asked, pulling another card from his pocket. "No offense, but you guys look like a bunch of big nerds so this one should be easy for you. Which classic NES game features a big boss called Mother Brain?"

Strangely enough, Susumu was the one to speak up. "It's Metroid. We all know that," she responded, sounding rather tired and empty. She had finally gained her strength enough to provide some sort of an answer, or so it seemed. She really just wanted to get this whole thing over with and hopefully make it home with the rest of her friends alive.

"...Maybe that one was a bit too easy," the man said, seeming slightly surprised that he had received an actual answer this time. "Don't worry, though. The next one won't be." He then turned to continue down the hall.

At that moment, Neal decided to launch his plan into action. "Everyone, now!" he declared, and the group began to charge at the man- Susumu and Konade included. The man definitely wasn't expecting this! He went down much easier than Neal was expecting, though that may have been due to the fact that he was much stronger than his size would indicate. Yardi, of course, was trying to get a few swings in, Priff was aiming for his legs, and even Susumu was helping to hold the guy down. They'd done it! This plan was actually going to work!

But that would have been too easy, wouldn't it?

Almost as quickly as the attack had happened, Neal suddenly felt something stabbing into his stomach. His eyes drifted downward- He'd forgotten the man was carrying a knife with him. He tried to speak, but he couldn't get any words to come out, just a few desperate sounding coughs. Yardi was the first to notice this, and looked up from he was doing, catching sight of the man in the middle of stabbing Neal again. "Ah, damn it!"

The rest of the group looked up to see what was happening. Yardi was the first to grab Neal, trying to pull him away from the man and break up what was happening. It took all of their strength to get the two separated. Everyone scattered, and Yardi stepped away for a second to check on Neal, propping him up against the wall. "Damn it, this looks bad... Neal, try to say something!"

Neal tried to speak again, but he still wasn't able to get any words out. This time, though, he seemed to be having difficulty breathing as well. He was in seriously bad shape, and Yardi had no idea what he was supposed to do!

The man stood up and dusted himself off. "Alright, well, I thought I made the rules clear enough last time," he began, sounding more annoyed than anything. "But I guess you still haven't learned how this works yet. And now I'm gonna have to hide a body, so thanks for that. You know, there's a reason why I only kill people in the rooms. I'm only going to warn you one last time. Breaking the rules must be punished. Come with me, now."

As the others shuffled into one of the rooms after the man, Yardi picked up Neal again and carried him in with them. If he was going to die, he'd at least make sure he didn't get left behind. He made sure Neal was a safe distance away from the man before looking up. In the room was nothing but a table and... Some kind of spinning wheel, like you'd see on a game show? What was this guy planning?

The man took his place by the wheel and explained. "Normally, I'd use this to decide how I was going to kill you, but let's try something a little different. Everyone pick a color and we'll see what happens!"

Is this for real? The guy had just murdered another of their friends, and now he was looking all excited? What was even going on anymore? Susumu was the first to speak this time. "Blue."

Junpei was next. "Uh, I'll pick green?"

"Pink," Priff answered shortly.

"Guess I'll take red then," Konade said.

"Uh, orange?" was Claire's answer.

"That just leaves me with yellow, I guess," Yardi remarked, though he had no idea what this was about.

"You've made your choices, now let's give that wheel a spin!" He then spun the wheel, still looking as though he could barely contain his excitement. "Aren't simple machines the most exciting?" The group watched the wheel spin in silence for several seconds, until it stopped on the blue section. "Will the winner please step forward and place their hand on the table?"

Susumu was the one to step up, and did as she was told. "Um, what does that mean?" she asked. "Do I get to-" Suddenly, she let out the most piercing scream any of them had ever heard her produce.

The man was now holding a much larger knife that he had before, this one with quite a lot of blood on it. "Phew, you know, cutting the fingers off is the easy part," he said. "It's just like cutting through a carrot. It's making sure they don't die immediately after that's the hard part."

Susumu couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was joking, right? She leaned over the table and looked down. He wasn't joking. Even as much as she was shaking and through her tears, she could see a lot of blood, and that she now seemed to be missing a finger.

"Yeah, you're gonna feel lightheaded for a while," the man remarked. "Blood loss tends to do that to most people."

Yardi stepped over and took Susumu by her shoulders, turning her to face him. He was trying to look at her hand, but she kept holding it so close to herself all he could see was blood. "Hey, come on," he tried to talk to her softly, in an attempt to keep from exploding with anger in front of her. "It's just me. It's Yardi. What happened to you? Show me what happened." After several seconds, Susumu held up her still-shaking hand. God, he didn't usually feel squeamish, but seeing Susumu like this... Her middle finger had been cut completely off, and in only a few seconds too. Yardi wasn't sure of the exact procedure for something like this, but he knew she needed to stop the bleeding before she bled out. The first thing he did was pull on his shirt sleeve as hard as he could, until it began to tear off. Once he had what he thought would be a large enough piece of fabric, he wrapped it around Susumu's hand hopefully tight enough to keep it there. Yeah, it wasn't much, but it'd hopefully do something at least.

The man was eyeing the two from the corner of the room. "I don't know what you're so upset about," he remarked. "Fingers grow back!"

"Uh, no, they don't," Junpei replied.

"Oh. Ah well, you live and you learn, I guess."

The man then stepped out of the room without another word. The group then shuffled out behind him, an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air. Before Yardi left, he went to speak to Neal one last time. At least, he TRIED to. Neal no longer seemed to be moving. Or breathing, for that matter. ...Oh. Damn it, he couldn't let this keep happening! He scooped up Susumu, helping her get out of the room. She could lean on him as long as she needed to. If nothing else, he'd at least make sure she made it out alive, even if it meant he died too.

After walking down the hall a bit, the man turned to face the group again. Great, time for more questions. When was this going to end? "Are you ready for the next question?" he asked. "What dairy product is produced through the coagulation of milk?"

How were any of them supposed to know that?! Susumu didn't even think she knew what "coagulation" meant, though that may have just been the blood loss. After a moment, Junpei answered. "Um, I think it's cheese, isn't it?"

The man's eyes widened again. "How did you- Well, crap. You got this one right, but the next one's gonna be harder!" He produced another card from his pocket. "How about this one? What's so special about a lodestone?"

Junpei was quick to answer this question too. "Lodestone? They're magnetic, aren't they?"

Konade spoke up. "Junpei, where is all this coming from?" she asked. "I had no idea you knew all this stuff."

"I'm kind of a huge science nerd," Junpei answered, looking rather proud of himself.

The man seemed to be glaring at Junpei. "You know what? I get the feeling you're cheating. Every time I think you're finally learning, you break my rules again. Honestly, kids these days just don't have any respect for authority." He managed to quickly grab Junpei when he wasn't looking. "Come with me." He then pointed at Priff. "You too. I'm gonna need another person for this."

Junpei and Priff were brought to a room that had nothing but a TV in it. The man took his place by the TV and spoke again. "...Alright, let's all just calm down for a second here... And play some Quiplash instead."

The TV began playing music that you might hear on a game show or something. Priff nodded as though she understood, but Junpei just blinked in confusion. What was all this about? A man's voice came from the TV, and he sounded just as confused as either of them. "What the hell? Ah, damn it, not this again. Alright, you've done this before, just read the card and you can leave. Ahem. 'Why is the coffee maker broken again?' ...Alright, can I go now?"

Priff stopped to think for a second. "You ever played this game before, Junpei?" she asked. "You've just got to come up with the funniest answer you can think of for the prompt. 'Why is the coffee maker broken again?'. I'm gonna say... 'Because someone kept punching it'."

The man then turned to Junpei. "I'm going to need an answer from you too," he said.

Junpei, however, had no idea what he was supposed to say. "Uh..." Crap, he thought he was doing fine under pressure until now.

The man waited several seconds for Junpei to respond, before he finally sighed. "Alright, look. I was gonna force your friends to decide which one of you got to live, but if you can't give an answer I may as well just make this quick for you." He then waved a hand at Priff. "Go on, get out. I don't think you're going to want to see this anyway."

Priff stepped out of the room and was immediately swarmed by the remaining four. "What happened?" Claire asked. "Where's Junpei?"

Priff didn't feel like talking about it at the moment. She waited for the man to leave the room and continued following him down the hall. "They made us play Quiplash," she responded.

Claire blinked, and the rest of the group followed. What was that supposed to mean anyway?


	4. Unexpected Events

Konade had been fairly quiet this whole time, but now she couldn't stop thinking about this whole situation. There had to be a reason for this, right? Why this man was trapping people here and killing them... That's not something that people just start doing out of nowhere. She got slightly closer to the man, hoping to get to the bottom of things. "Excuse me?" she asked. "If there's something you want from us, we can give it to you. If you need money or someone to get you out of here, we can do something about it."

The man then turned to face her, shaking his head. "I'm gonna be honest with you. I appreciate you trying to reach out to me like this, I really do. But I try not to befriend my victims, you know? The whole killing part is easier when there's no real emotional attachment."

Well, she tried, anyway. All these questions were starting to make Susumu's head feel fuzzy. She thought so, anyway. Everything looked so blurry. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a second, no one would notice...

Well, Yardi certainly noticed. As soon as he felt Susumu stop moving, he picked her up off his shoulders and started shaking her. "Hey! Susumu?!" Damn it! She couldn't be dead! Not now! But she wasn't responding to him at all...

The man sighed and took out his knife again. "Great, now I've got to deal with another one." He began to approach Susumu and Yardi, but Claire quickly stopped him.

"Wait a second! She's not dead! She's still breathing!" At the sound of Claire's words, Yardi looked at Susumu again- And sighed in relief when he saw that she was right. She must have just passed out or something, which was still slightly better than her dying. "She's not out of the game just yet, right?"

The man blinked and put the knife away. "Huh. You know, this happens a lot more than you'd think, actually. Mostly to the ones who get their fingers cut off. Ah well, I have a way of dealing with this too. Come on, all of you."

Great. He probably was going to just kill Susumu in front of them, most likely in some horrifically brutal way, and she wouldn't even be aware of it. But... When they went inside the room, it was surprisingly much nicer than the others. There was a couch and a table with a coffee maker on it, and cups set out neatly by the chairs. "Just let her lay on the couch for a while," the man said. "We'll pick this back up when she wakes up. Now, who wants coffee?"

Priff finally spoke up after being silent for so long. "That sure was a heck of a change. You were just trying to kill us two seconds ago. And what was that about not making friends?"

"Oh, this isn't meant to be some kind of happy carefree friendship moment," The man answered, pouring a cup of coffee and handing it out to whoever would take it. "Things like this just make the game too easy. Where's the fun in killing someone if they don't even scream?"

Yardi narrowed his eyes at the coffee cup. "This is poisoned, isn't it?" he asked.

The man shook his head. "Nah, trust me, I made that mistake before. That part comes later, and it's in a different room." Yardi honestly couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Well, he may as well enjoy the break for what it was then. Even so, he should probably still come up with a plan to get the ones who were still alive out of here...

The group sat in awkward silence for several moments, until the man spoke again. "So... You all come to this murder hotel often?" The group stared at him in response. "...Uh, right. I think I'd remember if I killed you before. Maybe." Yardi said nothing. This small talk wasn't really helping anyone. Their friend was bleeding on the couch, and they were stuck in a room with a man who would kill them all if given the chance. They just wanted this night to end as quickly as possible, though it was getting harder to keep hopeful at this point.

No one was really sure how to break this up, until Claire said something. "Um, listen. You'll have to excuse us if we don't feel much like talking. Tonight hasn't been exactly easy on any of us."

The man's eyes widened. "Oh, no, I get it. That's totally cool. It's like, whatever, you know?" He then sighed, though it sounded more frustrated than anything. "They never want to talk after I murder their loved ones."

Susumu didn't move from the couch for what felt like hours. Some part of her was hoping that this was all some sort of terrible dream, and she'd wake up in the morning still in the hotel bed and be on her way to go home. But it couldn't just be that easy, could it? A strange blur of lights started to appear in front of her eyes. She put her hand up to rub her eyes... And suddenly felt stabbing pain where her finger used to be. She blinked through the dim light to see that her hand was still wrapped in the cloth from Yardi's shirt. Oh god, all of this WAS real after all, wasn't it? She heard the man's voice from the table. "Oh good, you're awake. I was starting to think the blood loss had killed you after all."

"Susumu!" Yardi got up from the table and ran over to check on her, though he tried not to run too fast. She probably still wasn't feeling great after all that. "You're alright, aren't you? As alright as you can be, I mean."

"Ugh... My head still feels weird," Susumu answered. "And... My hand, it still really hurts..." Well, of course it did. She just had her finger cut off with no proper medical treatment or anaesthesia. What else did Yardi expect?

"Yeah, I can't help you much there," the man spoke up again. "That's kinda the opposite of what I do, you know?"

Yardi glared at the man. Who asked for his opinion? He turned back to Susumu and started talking to her again. "It's alright. I'm at least gonna get you out of here. We can get you to a hospital or something then. You're not gonna die. I'll get you out of here."

The man rolled his eyes. "Well, isn't this a sweet and heartwarming moment? It's not like, you know, we have a GAME to finish or anything." He was now looming over the two, holding the still-bloody knife above their heads. "Or like any of you are getting out of here UNTIL we've finished it. And now that all our players are back, it's time we moved on."

Well, at least that awkward intermission was over. The group followed the man out of the room, still keeping silent. No doubt he would have another question for them soon. Sure enough, he turned to the group and reached into his coat again. "Are you ready for your next question? Where would you find the smallest bone in your body?"

Claire didn't feel very comfortable with this. Was this another finger comment? "It's gotta be in your fingers, right?"

The man shook his head. "You just never learn, do you? Wrong answers must be punished. I'll tell you what though. You've all been much more resistant to death than I thought so far, so we're going to try something a little bit different." He then pointed at Claire. "You stay here. Everyone else, come with me."

The group stepped into a room that was empty except for a table. Sitting on the table were four elegantly designed golden cups... And one tiny striped paper cup sitting at the end. Priff's face crumpled up trying not to laugh, and the man noticed. "Alright, I know what you're thinking. Listen, I was on a budget, and the rest of the cups are on back order. I had to make do with what I had laying around. Then again, I probably could have stood to spend less on poison in hindsight."

Sitting on the table next to the cups was a small box. The man picked up the box and took off the lid, walking over to the group. He placed something from the box into each person's hand: It just looked like a tiny white ball, and felt very powdery. What was this even supposed to be anyway? "I'm giving each of you a poison pellet," the man explained. "Put it in one of the cups, but you better not drop them. Seriously, you have no idea how expensive decent poison is. I will be very upset if you waste these."

Konade was trying to play this out in her head. Claire was the one who got the question wrong, wasn't she? Was he going to make Claire drink from one of those cups? But then, she would be... No. Konade couldn't let this happen. She had to get rid of this thing as fast as possible. But what was she going to do? She couldn't just let the man see her toss it on the floor. How would she be able to...

All of a sudden, without even thinking about it, she tossed the poison pellet into her mouth. She didn't even realize she'd done it, but Susumu did, and suddenly became the most alert she had been all night. "Konade, what are you doing?! You just swallowed that thing!"

Konade said nothing, but instead just coughed in response. A strange metallic taste was starting to fill her mouth. She opened her eyes, though, when she heard the man's voice from the corner. He was... Laughing about this? She had just poisoned herself out of sheer panic and he was laughing? "Oh man, that's a new one! I've killed at least... I dunno, maybe 14 people in this room, but no one has ever done THAT before!" The man continued for a while, but eventually stopped when he saw that no one else was laughing. "...Ahem. Anyway, if it feels like your organs are on fire, that's because they are."

Konade coughed again, this time louder than before. The metallic taste was getting stronger too. She was starting to feel like she was choking or something, and leaned herself on the table, now breaking into a full-blown fit of coughing. It wasn't long before the others started to notice blood spilling from her mouth, and a lot more blood than one might have expected from something like this. Then, seemingly as quickly as it had started, Konade stopped coughing- And had stopped breathing too.

The man was still trying to hold in his laughter. "Hey, at least she didn't bleed all over the carpet," he said to the rest of the group. "And you know what? I'm in a good mood now. I haven't laughed like THAT in a while. I'm gonna let your friend out there live for now. Go on, stop moping and get out of here, and leave the poison pellets on the table. I've got a body to dispose of, you know."

Claire was waiting for her friends outside the door, but she was rather confused when only three of them came out. "What happened in there?" She asked. "Is Konade..."

Yardi was the one to answer her. "It's better if you didn't know. Konade's... Not gonna be coming with us."

Claire blinked. Konade had died too, and none of them even had time to process it this time. That man from before... He sure seemed to be in a hurry all of a sudden. Was he planning something?


	5. The Finale

When this night started, nine people had come into this hotel. Now, five of them were dead, and the four that were left had run out of hope that they would escape alive too. Even Claire, usually the most cheerful of the group, had lost her usual spirit after the events that had happened. Konade was dead now, and it was her fault. She was the one who got the question wrong, so why hadn't she been punished instead? Something about this didn't seem fair. She had to set it right, but how?

The man stopped and turned around again. "Well, what's everyone moping around for?" he asked, sounding a bit annoyed. "Sure, I might have killed..." His tone changed when he noticed how few of them were left. "Oh. Uh, alright. Not really many of you left alive, are there? Okay, I'll tell you what. Any of you that can survive this next question, I'll give you a chance to escape this place alive. Sound good?"

Now that got the group to perk up. A chance to leave this place? They had to admit, they didn't fully trust this. It was probably a trap. There was probably some terrible catch to all this. However, before the group had a chance to respond, the man spoke again. "Alright, well, that got everyone's attention." He reached into his coat one last time. "One last question for all of you. What gives plants their funky green color?"

Claire KNEW the answer to this question. She could have easily survived this and moved on. But Konade had needlessly suffered because of her. This was the only way she could make things right. She stepped forward and answered. "Their cell walls." The rest of the group was shocked by this. This is something Claire knew all about! Why would she say the wrong answer, unless she did it on purpose?

The man shook his head in response. "Well. I see SOMEONE wasn't listening before," he said, then pointed at Claire. "You know what that means. Come with me." Claire didn't argue or try to escape. She had to do this for Konade's sake.

The room was just like all the rest, dark and with nothing but a table sitting in the middle of it. There was a small, square box sitting on the table. The man took the lid off the box and dumped out several dice. "We're going to play with these cool skull dice I found online!" He said excitedly, picking up two of them. "So here's how this is gonna work. If you roll higher than me, you get to live. But if your score is lower or matches mine, I'll kill you." He made his roll and got a pretty decent number for what he had: 8.

Now it was Claire's turn. She picked up two dice for herself. She rolled them as carefully as she could, though tried not to let the man see that she wasn't exactly trying to roll high. Finally, she layed her dice out on the table, revealing the numbers: 5.

"Oh, you were so close to escaping too!" The man said. It was hard to tell if he was genuinely disappointed for her or not. "But it looks like luck wasn't on your side tonight. You know what happens now!"

It wasn't long before the man stepped out of the door, looking the group over as he did so. "There's only three of you left alive," he said. "All of you, come with me. I have something I'd like to show you." He then began to turn around, walking toward the elevator. Was this going to be their way out? The three decided to follow him. They still didn't fully trust this, but they thought it would be their best chance to escape.

The group stepped into the elevator, and the man stood next to the buttons. He waited for the doors to close, then pressed all of them as quickly as he could. "Ooh, I just love getting to do that!" He declared. Seconds later, the elevator began to move, though they couldn't tell if it was going up or down. It was a smooth motion at first, until the thing began to shake. The group thought it was nothing at first, until the shaking got worse.

Susumu began to cling to Yardi. "What's going on?" she asked. Before Yardi could answer, the elevator suddenly came crashing to a stop. This was it, wasn't it? This was how they all died.

...Wasn't it? All of a sudden, Yardi could hear the man laughing at them from the corner. They had all been knocked to the floor by the impact, but somehow none of them had been killed by it. "Happens to them all the time," he remarked, before turning to open the door. "It's just this way." He then led the group to what looked like a long dark hallway.

Priff didn't seem to be too bothered by this. "This is it?" she asked. "A dark hallway?" She stuck her hand into the darkness and waved it around a bit. "I gotta say, I was expecting a lot more-"

Her eyes widened when she felt like something was clawing at her hand. She pulled away the second she felt something grab her wrist. The man noticed her reaction and spoke. "Oh, did I forget to tell you? You're not alone in here. That's just a little friend of mine I like to introduce to the ones who make it this far. And I'd start running if I were you, unless you want to end up seeing YOUR friends again." The lights above the group's head then went out. "Good luck getting out of here alive!"

The three scattered to get out of the darkness as quickly as they could. Priff was the first to get away, and Yardi picked up Susumu to help her run. The lights in the hallways began to start going out rapidly. Damn it, they had to get away! Susumu was starting to slow down, though. This running was starting to make her feel dizzy, and she thought she was going to pass out again. "Yardi... I-I can't run anymore..."

Damn it! He couldn't let... Whatever that thing was get to Susumu! Instead of carrying her on his shoulder, he got behind her. "Just go, Susumu! Forget about me! As long as you make it out of here, I don't care what happens to me!"

"Yardi..." She turned to face him. "I've already lost most of my friends. I've already lost Sachio. I might have even been the one who killed him. If I lose you too... I don't think I could keep going on."

As she was speaking to Yardi, though, she thought she could see... What looked like a person coming through the darkness. She thought it was just that man again at first, until she noticed: This person had red hair. "Sachio...?" She stepped past Yardi for a closer look. The person she saw also had a face that was very similar to hers. It WAS Sachio! How did he get out of that box though?

Yardi tried to stop her, of course. "Susumu, wait!" He chased after her. "Where are you going?!"

Something seemed wrong with Sachio, though. Blood was pouring down his head, or at least it seemed to have been at some point. Not to mention, when he saw Susumu and Yardi, he didn't react well at all. "Wait a minute, Susumu! Don't come over here!"

"But why?" Susumu asked him, sounding strangely desperate now. "You're here now, and you're alive. Maybe we can all escape together now!"

"We can't," Sachio answered her. "And... I don't think I'm alive. But I don't know if I'm really dead or not either. I THOUGHT I was dead, but... Before I knew it, I was just wandering around this place, alone. I guess I just ended up getting lost and that's why I'm here."

Susumu, however, wasn't so willing to leave her friends behind. "If you're here, that must mean the others are nearby too!" she declared. "I was so terrified of losing everyone I cared about... But if I can find you, I can find everyone else too!"

At this moment, Yardi had managed to catch up to Susumu. What got his attention more, though, was who she was talking to. "Sachio? How did you escape alive?"

"I didn't," Sachio answered. "I don't know how long I've been dead now, but I've been wandering around this place the whole time. I think the others are here too, but... I don't know where they are, or if they're even alive. ...You and Susumu... Are you still alive?"

"We are," Yardi answered. "Priff is too. Or she was when we last saw her. I don't know where she is now."

Neither of them noticed that Susumu was staring into the darkness. Her friends had to be in there somewhere. Sachio was here. That meant the others had to be too. "I can't leave all of them behind," she said more to herself than anything. "If they're still alive, I need to find them."

Yardi didn't realize it until Susumu was already stepping into the darkness. "Susumu!" He and Sachio ran after her as fast as they could, but she was already gone. "Susumu, wait!" Yardi had no choice but to follow her in. There was silence for several moments, before the sound of Susumu's screams could be heard. Neither of them came back out.

Priff, meanwhile, was far ahead of any of them. That was weird. She thought they were just behind her... Weren't they? She looked back at the growing darkness. "Uh... You guys coming?" she called out, her voice sounding rather shaky. The lights began to start turning off again. "Guess that's a no?" Looked like the only thing she could do was keep running. She could see what looked like a door at the end of the hallway, and that man from before wasn't anywhere nearby at all either. Maybe this really was her chance to escape!

Her smile dropped, however, when she saw something flickering at the doorway. Before long she ended up smacking into some sort of barrier blocking the door. Damn it, the darkness was only getting closer, and there was still no sign of Susumu or Yardi! There was only one thing she could think to try. She backed up as far as she could, and ran at the barrier at top speed. "Nope! Not like this!" she shouted as she ran into the barrier with all her force. Apparently whoever made it hadn't planned for anyone to do that! She ended up tumbling onto the other side of the doorway, and something behind her began to make a strange beeping noise. A pretty large-sounding explosion followed in the hallway behind her shortly after. Ugh, talk about cliche.

**8 Found Dead In Infamous Roadside Hotel, One Survives**

**At 6:15 AM today, Hanako "Priff" Mitidori (age 20) reported that she and her friends were being attacked by an unidentified man. According to Miss Mitidori, the group had stopped at a roadside hotel for the night, only for the owner to begin attacking and killing them one by one. The location has been identified as the infamous hotel where multiple murders had been committed in the past, known colloquially as the "Murder Hotel". Upon a thorough investigation, the bodies of 8 victims were located, though the killer was not found. No evidence was found to confirm that Miss Mitidori committed any of these killings. Authorities are currently working to identify the bodies.**

**Before being released, Miss Mitidori had this to say: "My brother is dead. My friends are dead. I don't know what I'm going to do now."**


End file.
